FOI 353-2025 / Mar 2025 / Tailgating
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 353-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 24th March 2025 as follows:
Please may I request the following information, which relates to citizen-submitted video evidence of so-called ‘tailgating’ – ie, another motorist driving too close to the vehicle in front:
The number of citizen-submitted pieces of video/imagery evidence reported to the force (either via the Force’s own online portal or via the Nextbase ‘National Dash Cam Safety Portal’) that specifically references ‘tailgating’ (ie, another motorist driving too close to the vehicle in front) in the submission.
The number of video/dash cam evidence submissions (relating to tailgating) there has been in past three years, broken down by year
The number of tailgating evidence submissions which resulted in a successful prosecution (by year, if possible)
Please can prosecutions be identified by road/location.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response to your request set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. As part of Operation Snap, members of the public can report and submit digital footage to Warwickshire Police showing potential moving traffic offences. However, the business area has advised that when it comes to recording, ‘tailgating’ does not have a category of its own. Instead, submissions referencing or indicating ‘tailgating’ would most likely be recorded as ‘careless driving’ or ‘other’ depending on the individual circumstances. Therefore, in order to provide a response to this request, it would be necessary to individually review all submissions recorded as ‘careless driving’ and ‘other’, for the specified period. Additionally, where submissions referencing tailgating were located, further research would be required to determine outcomes, which would include cross-referencing to another business area and system if a ‘Notice of Intended Prosecution’ was recommended. A scoping exercise, based on reviewing the submissions categorised as ‘Careless Driving’ and ‘Other’ recorded in the past 3 years, identified that 5,433 records would require manual review and that this would take approximately 5 minutes per record. A breakdown of the yearly figures and an estimate of the time and cost involved for this work is set out below:
|
Year |
Careless |
Other |
Total |
|
2022 |
803 |
501 |
1304 |
|
2023 |
814 |
385 |
1199 |
|
2024 |
1071 |
1859 |
2930 |
|
Grand Total |
2688 |
2745 |
5433 |
5,433 records @ 5 minutes per record to review = 452.75 hours
452.75 hours @ £25 per hour = £11,318.75
This does not take into consideration the additional work required to locate information about prosecutions.
Therefore, the work involved in determining the information requested exceeds the cost threshold (£450), which equates to 18 hours work at a standard rate of £25 per hour, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be individually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to reduce the request into one that could be managed within the fees limit.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB